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Henry Pendleton, Blog Post #7

Recently Obama has made a major play in in his fight for national health care; he has nominated his now budget director, Sylvia Burwell, as the new Health and Human Services Secretary to succeed Kathleen Sebelius. Sebelius was the leader and at the forefront of the Affordable Care Act for the past five years. As the public face of one of Obamas major goals of his presidency Sebelius faced much scrutiny from the media. Most of the blame for the slowness and malfunction of the web site to apply for Affordable Health Care was towards Sebelius and her team. With all the made press and the attempt to improve his approval rating Obama named Burwell to succeed as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. 7.5 million Americans have signed up through the now up and running web site, “That’s an historical accomplishment”, Obama stated. The question being asked by the republicans and hopefully answered by Burwell is out of those 7.5 million how many have actually paid their premiums and everything that comes with that.

Sylvia Burwell is currently the Director of the Office of Budget and Management and assumed office last April. She has been noted on both sides of the isle as a skilled manager with experience as the former head of the Wal-Mart Foundation. This is exactly what Obama thinks will help this health care plan; a fresh face for a prestigious background and the person that will be able to put a spin on the numbers to get more backers and the most important people to sign up for it. Burwell is going to have her work cut out for her with the loudest advocates from the GOP strongly against the law and the intrusiveness it brings with it.